eric olthwaite wrote:Norwich haven't had a blip yet. They will. As far as I'm aware, they've not had critical injury issues yet either. They will.

agree, they had the same farke last season and finished 14th and if you look at their season they specialised in good runs and bad runs of about 6 games. the fact that they've had to scramble past millwall and rotherham with injury time goals also suggests they're nothing special. i'd bet on us to finish above them.

increasing doubt, decreasing hope, even my imaginary friend went and changed his mind.

Mustafaster wrote:Tommy, we're bringing nobody in except a replacement for Blackman.You just have to get your pretty little head around that simple fact and all will be well.Bielsa is creating a culture, he would much rather use the players at his disposal, who understand the culture, than bring somebody else in who might not.

Bielsa was pretty clear last week players will only be brought in to go straight to the first team.

I believe he used the term "great" player.

Nice to see somebody at the club finally realises it's about quality not quantity.

Mustafaster wrote:Tommy, we're bringing nobody in except a replacement for Blackman.You just have to get your pretty little head around that simple fact and all will be well.Bielsa is creating a culture, he would much rather use the players at his disposal, who understand the culture, than bring somebody else in who might not.

Bielsa was pretty clear last week players will only be brought in to go straight to the first team.

I believe he used the term "great" player.

Nice to see somebody at the club finally realises it's about quality not quantity.

I think the attitude is if we are short bring in someone from the under 23s to cover. It’s seems to have worked ok so far I guess. Halme and Huffer for example. If the under 23s play the same style it probably is better than bringing in someone fresh.

Besides We’ve no reason to argue with Bielsa with what he’s done so far.

AndyPaul wrote:I think the attitude is if we are short bring in someone from the under 23s to cover. It’s seems to have worked ok so far I guess. Halme and Huffer for example. If the under 23s play the same style it probably is better than bringing in someone fresh.

Besides We’ve no reason to argue with Bielsa with what he’s done so far.

I guess my only concern is that there has to be some kind of tipping point to do with bringing youngsters in whilst ensuring a degree of experience remains. If we lost Pontus to injury or suspension in the next few weeks we’d be pushing our luck. I wouldn’t be averse to bringing in a half decent utility defender just for cover, personally.

Also looked fairly shite if I’m being completely honest. If there’s a player in there I’m increasingly convinced he’s a midfielder. Aside from Halme there’s also Struijk and Diaz, both of whom have their moments but also have the capacity to look lost. Out on loan are O’Connor and Kitching, both of whom have earned fairly good reports. Presumably if Pontus is injured before January we’d be looking at Halme and Phillips, which would be...uh, eventful.

I remember thinking we really needed a centre-half above anything else pre-season (and for as long as I can remember) but as has been said, it’s hard to argue with Bielsa. Of course, he couldn’t have predicted injuries on this scale but we probably should have insisted.

Tommy wrote:Also looked fairly shite if I’m being completely honest. If there’s a player in there I’m increasingly convinced he’s a midfielder. Aside from Halme there’s also Struijk and Diaz, both of whom have their moments but also have the capacity to look lost. Out on loan are O’Connor and Kitching, both of whom have earned fairly good reports. Presumably if Pontus is injured before January we’d be looking at Halme and Phillips, which would be...uh, eventful.

I remember thinking we really needed a centre-half above anything else pre-season (and for as long as I can remember) but as has been said, it’s hard to argue with Bielsa. Of course, he couldn’t have predicted injuries on this scale but we probably should have insisted.

Agree, but it would have been a run-out to bring him up to speed rather than relying on him as any kind of bulwark. His best position may be the Phillips position, either just in front of the back two or as an occasional joiner of a three. The defensive side, in general, was loose yesterday. With the fullbacks pushed on and seemingly everyone concerned with attacking, there didn't seem a great deal of urgency about stopping goals conceded at some points - especially immediately after we'd scored ourselves!Hard to tell with U23s, anyway. The first teamers clearly stood out as a class above [as you'd expect], but for those on the rise it's not always easy to discern what they're going to achieve in the game.

I'm not even sure we had a defence yesterday. Davis and Gotts were ostensibly our full-backs but I think the former was, at least in theory, alongside Shaughnessy (a midfielder) with Odour dropping back to left-wing back. Sometimes Baker, Nicell and Stevens tracked back a bit but it was one of the most comically offensive teams I've seen in a while. It made a bit more sense when Halme came on and Odour dropped back into left-back proper but before then it was fairly chaotic. Perhaps it was an precursor for whatever lunacy will prevail if we do lose Pontus to injury before the new year.

Tommy wrote:I'm not even sure we had a defence yesterday. Davis and Gotts were ostensibly our full-backs but I think the former was, at least in theory, alongside Shaughnessy (a midfielder) with Odour dropping back to left-wing back. Sometimes Baker, Nicell and Stevens tracked back a bit but it was one of the most comically offensive teams I've seen in a while. It made a bit more sense when Halme came on and Odour dropped back into left-back proper but before then it was fairly chaotic. Perhaps it was an precursor for whatever lunacy will prevail if we do lose Pontus to injury before the new year.

gotts was right back, davis was left centre-back alongside shaughnessy, though he normally plays left back, so we had a sort of midfielder and a full back playing centre backs, proper bielsa. oduor seemed to be doing his best to be everything on the left. that low camera position was useless for working anything else positionally out.

increasing doubt, decreasing hope, even my imaginary friend went and changed his mind.

I particularly liked it yesterday in the second half when behind Jack Clarke we had Clarke Odour. The Burnley defenders couldn't get a sniff. Arf arf etc.

Jokes aside, Odour is one of those players who is quietly, consistently reliable in the U23s but seldom gets much in the way of plaudits. There's a lot of clamour on social media to find someone, anyone to replace Alioski (which I don't think is anything like a priority) but given that Clarke, Pearce and Odour have all played quite regularly on the left and all three have a good turn of pace, it seems likely that at least one of them will come good in the next year or so. Until then I think we can almost certainly make do and mend.